Parkland Juror Tells Victims’ Families After Life Sentence That ‘Florida Law Disappointed’ Them, Not the Jury

One of the jurors behind the controversial decision to recommend life without the possibility of parole to the gunman behind the Parkland mass shooting spoke to CNN after the verdict and claimed it was “Florida law” that “disappointed” angered families, not the voting members of the jury.

Melody Vanoy spoke with CNN correspondent Leyla Santiago and called the experience of the trial “horrific.”

“It was horrific to say the least. It was like going to a museum that you never wanted to go to,” she said.

Vanoy revealed that jury members decided that no matter the decision they came to, they would take a night to collect their thoughts, claiming she was undecided until the “very, very end.”

“I was still undecided until the very, very end,” Vanoy said.

The juror also alleged she heard other members of the jury saying the death penalty was necessary to send a message and to avoid letting down the families of victims, many of whom have publicly blasted the jury’s recommendation.

“I heard comments like ‘we’re going to let the families down.’ I heard comments like, ‘oh, we have to put a stance for Florida. In other words, you can’t come here and get away with it. But when you go back to the instructions, those were things that we could not consider,” Vanoy said.

Asked by Santiago what she would say if she were speaking to a family member of one of the 17 people killed in the school shooting, Vanoy pointed to “Florida law” as what family members should be disappointed with.

“I would say I’m tremendously sorry for your loss,” she said. “I am also sorry that — and in my opinion, I think that the law failed them. I think that saying that the jury disappointed them or the jury did this, I just disagree on that wording. I think that the Florida law disappointed them.”

Santiago reported after the interview that Vanoy was so troubled by her experience during the trial that she will be going to therapy.

Watch above via CNN

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